•    Mr Nguyen Duc Trung, Vice Chairman, Central Commission for Policy and Strategy
•    Mr Nguyen Hoa Cuong, Vice President of the Institute for Policy and Strategy Studies,

Distinguished guests, colleagues.

We have just heard two rich presentations: Dr [Dang Thi Thu] Hoai on the Energy Social Accounting Matrix, and Professor Finn Tarp on the application of this data to assess energy transition policies for Viet Nam. 

The presentations reflect how central the energy transition is to Viet Nam’s ambitions, to sustaining its remarkable growth, strengthening resilience, and addressing the climate challenges that lie ahead. Achieving these together will require a profound transformation in how the country produces and uses energy.

But as you have heard earlier today, an energy transition is not only about upgrading technology or changing power sources. It reshapes entire sectors, jobs, incomes and household budgets. Managed well, this transition can become a genuine engine of growth and shared prosperity; but if its social and economic impacts are not carefully assessed, this can widen inequality and leave the most vulnerable behind.

That is why this research matters. What it allows us to do, drawing on Viet Nam’s own data, is to see clearly who stands to gain and who stands to lose as the transition unfolds — and to ask how policy can be designed for energy security, environmental sustainability and, crucially, equity.

We have now seen these findings presented in full. Let me draw out two messages, in particular, that stand out from this work. 

The first is that equity considerations, needs to be built into the design of policies at the outset to ensure a just transition. As demonstrated in our findings on the application of a carbon tax, the same policy can have negative income impacts across all households, or raise incomes of poorest groups while cutting emissions with additional redistributive measures through revenue transfers. Building in the explicit objective of enhancing equity allows for the development of a combination of policies that work together to deliver on climate and equity goals.  

Secondly, some energy transition policy options such as improving energy efficiency deliver win-win benefits. Improving energy efficiency can support growth, reduce emissions, ease dependence on imported energy, and benefit households at the same time. 

Therefore, these findings point to a clear conclusion: a transition that is clean, secure and just is within reach, provided that policy is designed with equity firmly in view.

Each of these findings rests on rigorous quantitative modelling, built on Viet Nam’s own data. And this points to something that UNDP values greatly: the importance of strengthening national capacity for evidence-based policymaking. The value of a tool like the ESAM lies not only in the answers it offers today, but in it remaining in the toolkit of policy makers in Viet Nam — so that these tools can be applied and updated, by Vietnamese institutions as new questions arise.

The evidence presented today carries a hopeful message: growth, energy security, emissions reduction and equity are not competing goal. They can reinforce one another, provided that policies are well designed and anchored in a commitment to leave no one behind. UNDP is proud to accompany Viet Nam on this journey, and we will continue to support the government as it builds an energy transition that is not only ambitious, but just and inclusive.
These findings are a foundation to build on, and I now look forward to the discussion that follows.

Thank you. Xin cảm ơn.